Massive Flood Evacuations in Pakistan’s Punjab Province

(CTN News) – The high water flow in the Sutlej river, which had caused significant destruction in the villages and riverine settlements near Bahawalpur city, proceeded downstream on Monday.

After weeks of rain in India’s northern states, the country released water, causing the river to rise to flood levels.

After several zamindara (private) defensive dykes broke, the tremendous water flow flooded the outskirts of Bahawalpur.

Weaslan, Sahlan, Lal De Goth, Hasilpur, and Khairpur Tamewali were all flooded.

Bahawalpur Deputy Commissioner Zaheer Anwar Jappa said that before the flood reached those areas, the government had evacuated more than 128,000 people and more than 50,000 cattle.

The district administration successfully safeguarded the Empress Bridge from the Raj era on the main Karachi-Lahore route and the Bahawalpur bridge across National Highway N-5.

Videos posted online showed the Sutlej river taking a “unusual diversion” as it passed under a bridge in Bahawalpur.

After what was said to be decades, the water finally made its way through the channel. People gathered on the bridge to watch the raging river in videos posted to X (formerly Twitter).

Bahawalpur’s outskirts have been flooded, and the water is already making its way to the Punjnad headworks and Ahmedpur East tehsil, where the Sutlej river meets the Chenab river before emptying into the Indus 30 km to the south.

The Ahmedpur East administration and Rescue 1122 have been notified, Deputy Commissioner Jappa told the media on Monday, and they are taking immediate, extensive relief measures to safeguard the safety of residents and their animals. He speculated that the water could hit other villages in Ahmedpur East.

Mr. Jappa detailed the damage in Bahawalpur, stating that three mauzas were entirely destroyed, 55 were damaged, and crops on approximately 47,000 acres had been lost.

Several union councils were flooded, according to Sohail Baloch, a farmer from Jalalpur Pirwala near Bahawalpur. He stated that two bunds, Zamindara and Sarwani Shah, had been broken. He warned that the floods could wipe off the region’s cotton, maize and fodder crops.

Former Bahawalpur Union Council chairman Shahid Iqbal claimed that numerous villages were flooded when farmers’ dykes collapsed under the weight of the water.

He noted that while locals in flooded villages were trying to recover from the disaster, tourists from Bahawalpur were enjoying picnics in the region.

Meanwhile, the Flood Forecasting Division of the Pakistan Meteorological Department has issued a rainfall warning for the coming month.

A “fresh wet spell of moderate intensity is likely to start over the upper catchments of all the major rivers from September 2,” as stated in the Monday alert. PMD has said that major rivers will not experience flooding due to forecasts. The amount of water released by India would still determine the Sutlej’s flow, though.

From a high flood status on Sunday to a medium flood state on Monday, as the Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) reported, water levels at headworks upstream of Bahawalpur continued to fall.

Near Kasur, at the Ganda Singh Wala Barrage, the peak flow was measured at 108,049 cusecs. There was a flow rate of 94,574 cusecs at Head Sulemanki, close to Okara, and 94,282 cusecs at Head Islam, close to Vehari. It has been documented that all other rivers are flowing normally.

The PDMA representative claims that communities and riverine areas around the Sutlej river, along with thousands of acres of crops, have been devastated.

Flooding has affected about 548 villages in the districts of Kasur, Bahawalnagar, Okara, Pakpattan, Lodhran, Vehari, and Bahawalpur, forcing the evacuation of 210,912 people on August 17 and another 89,211 people on August 27. More than a hundred thousand acres of farmland have also been ruined.

Flooded areas have seen the deployment of 254 boats and nearly 1,000 rescuers, as reported by Rescue 1122.

People and animals have been safely evacuated from the districts of Bahawalpur, Pakpattan, Kasur, and Vehari, and similar efforts are currently underway in the districts of Multan, Sahiwal, Rajanpur, Khanewal, Bahawalnagar, Layyah, Lodhran, and Okara.

There have been 112,137 persons evacuated and relocated to safer areas since July 9.

Meanwhile, the PDMA official said 95 medical camps had been built up along the Sutlej river in various locations across the province to serve as temporary medical clinics.

He stated that around 36,000 persons had received medical care. “Moreover, 178 relief camps are operating in the affected districts,” the statement reads.

Over twenty ambulances have also been deployed to the impacted areas.